Being a Superfriend Means Never Having to Wear Pants

?I am horrifically late with this news, so you have my apologies. Apparently, Mattel announced this Justice League Unlimited three-pack of Samurai, Apache Chief and Black Lightning — a.k.a. the Affirmative Action Superfriends — many moons ago, but I just now heard about them when Shortpacked found them on sale a couple of days ago. Like all JLU toys, they’re Target exclusives, so that where you’ll need to look for your Superfriends.

As for me, I’m stunned — stunned to discover Black Lightning didn’t wear leggings. I knew Samurai and Apache Chief didn’t, but Black Lightning? His costume covers his entire upper torso. It’d be like me going on with a shirt, a hoodie, and a pair of tighty-whities. It’s worth noting that the only other Superfriends who didn’t wear pants were Wonder Woman — a woman — and Robin — a boy. Clearly, pants were a privelige only granted to the Superwhitemen. (Via Comics Alliance)

About The Author

Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.